Pastor and his wife receive prison sentence for teaching their own children
Life Under Communism: Cuban Couple Gets 2 Years in Jail For Homeschooling
Pastor and his wife receive prison sentence for teaching their own children
Image Credits: Yander Zamora/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Evangelical Pastor Ramón Rigal and his wife Ayda Expósito
were both sentenced to prison after engaging in and promoting
homeschooling in the communist country of Cuba.
Breitbart reports:
“Homeschooling is illegal in Cuba, as it is considered a
“capitalist” practice and prevents the state from indoctrinating
children in Marxist atheism in public schools. Rigal has been
homeschooling his children for years, forcing him into consistent
confrontations with the Castro regime, and began helping other Christian
families homeschool following his arrest in 2017.”
Rigal and Expósito, who are from Guatemala, were detained last week
over their refusal to send their children to government-run schools.
In two previous cases against the couple, journalist Yoe Suarez reported,
“the prosecutor indicated that education at home is ‘not permitted in
Cuba because it has a capitalist foundation’ and that only [the
government] teachers are prepared ‘to instill socialist values’.”
On Monday, the judge presiding over their cases found them guilty of
“illicit assembly and incitement to delinquency” for helping other
families interested in homeschooling.
Cuban state security wouldn’t let friends or family attend the
sentencing and they got violent with attorney and journalist Roberto de
Jesús Quiñones Haces.
“They punched me in the mouth, my shirt is bloody, and I am detained
here now, I don’t know why,” Quiñones told a Cuban reporter.
Before the couple was arrested, they were planning on leaving the
country for a nation that respects their right to freely educate their
children.
Watch Rigal explain his situation in the video below that was released days before his arrest.
The case took place amid rising tension in Cuba after the country adopted a new constitution earlier this year that was met with opposition from religious leaders who say it weakens protections for freedom of religion.
